The British Eighth Army under newly-installed General Claude Auchinleck opened an offensive in North Africa, bypassing Axis fortress positions on the Egyptian border as they moved to relieve besieged British troops at Tobruk, Libya. The attack pushed Erwin Rommel to withdraw his German-Italian forces to Tobruk, which was finally relieved by the British advance on 10 December after a three-week battle. Defeated, Rommel retreated first to Gazala and then El Agheila, temporarily ceding Cyrenaica to the British.in wikipedia